mi 



REFERENDUM ON DECLARATION OF WAR 



Return to 
HEARINGS Library of Gongre^ 
Div. of Dogs, 

BEFORE THE 

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

' HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SIXTY-FOURTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 



H. RES. 492 



STATEMENTS OF 

JAMES EAD8 HOW AND OTHERS 



FEBRUARY 17, ]917 



ml 



WASHINGTON 

JOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1917 



X. 






COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 

[Committee room, gallery floor, west corridor. Telephone 230. Meets on call. 
House of Representatives. 



CYRUS CLINE, Indiana. 

J. CHARLS LINTHICUM, Maryland 

WILLIAM S. GOODWIN, Arkansas. 

CHARLES M. STEDMAN, North Carolina. 

BYRON P. HARRISON, Mississippi. 

CHARLES B. SMITH, New York. 

DORSEY W. SHACKLEFORD, Missouri. 

ADOLPH J. SAB ATH, Illinois. 

J. WILLARD RAGSDALE, South Carohna 

GEORGE W. LOFT, New York. 



HENRY D. FLOOD, Virginia, Chairman. 

GEORGE HUDDLESTON, Alabama. 
JOS. B. THOMPSON, Oklahoma. 
HENRY A. COOPER, Wisconsin. 
STEPHEN G. PORTER, Pennsylvania. 
JOHN JACOB ROGERS, Massachusetts. 
HENRY W. TEMPLE, Pennsylvania. 
GEORGE EDMUND FOSS, Illinois. 
CLARENCE B. MILLER, Minnesota. 
LUTHER W. MOTT, New York. 
AMBROSE KENNEDY, Rhode Island. 
ROBERT Catlett, Clerk, 
B. F. Oven , Assistant Clerk, 



D. of D. 
NOV 1 1917 



<M 



REFERENDUM ON DECLARATION OF WAR, 



House of Representatives, 

Committee on Foreign Affairs, 
Washington, Saturday, February 17, 1917. 
The committee this day met, Hon. Henry D. Flood (chairman) 
presiding. 

The Chairman. We will hear one or two gentlemen this morning 
on the question of a referendum vote. Mr. How, we will be very 
glad to hear from you. 

STATEMENT OF MR. JAMES EADS HOW. 

Mr. How. I might say, in the beginning, Mr. Chairman and gentle- 
men of the committee, that I have studied medicine, and am a doctor; 
and I know, therefore, that it is very difficult, sometimes, to save a 
person's life. I know how hard it is to try to do that; and that has 
given me the greatest respect for life, and, personally,-! do not believe 
in killing anybody, and I do not believe in war at all. 

A number of years ago we started an organization of the mass of 
the people in the West and South, commonly called hoboes — so called 
because they have to travel around at times looking for employment, 
and so on. There are a good many of them who have families, and 
they are the people who do the harvesting of the country and who do 
construction work in different })arts of the country — the great body 
of unskilled labor not organized into the Federation of Labor. 

At the last convention we held, the convention of last year, it 
was the sense of the convention, and was so stated, that what we 
want is not war, but work. That was a year or more ago, when we 
had very dull times. At the last convention the question came up 
of whether, according to the statement of a Western Senator, we 
would make good cannon fodder or not. We would be the ones, in 
case of war, th'at would make cannon fodder. The skilled workers 
would be kept in the factories, making munitions, etc.; and the part 
of labor which we represent would be sent to the front. We would 
be cannon fodder. 

Holding this position, being the people who would be sent to the 
front as cannon fodder, we believe that we should have some voice 
in this matter of war or peace. I think the matter should be referred 
to the people for a referendum vote. It is the consensus of our peo- 
ple that they ought to have a voice in these things. I have traveled 
around a good deal in the United States, and I know that that is the 
sentiment of the people. I have been in Kansas City, in St. Louis, 
in Chicago, and other places. In Chicago we have what Mr. Walsh 
calls a "hobo college." In St. Louis, where I live, there is a great 
deal of interest in the franchise for all the people. We want votes 

3 ^ 



4 EEFERENDUM ON DECLARATION OF WAE. 

for all our people. For instance, I was disfranchised last year be- 
cause I was traveling. There are great numbers of us away from our 
homes during the harvest season. We have to go away from home 
and out into these States in order to make a living. There is where 
the work is, and we have to go there to do it. 

Now, gentlemen, we vs^ant the right, as citizens of this country, 
to have some voice in this m after, because the people are sovereign in 
this country, or should be. So we were sent down here as a commit- 
tee, to Washington, to see wdiat we could do in the way of working for 
peace. As you gentlemen probably realize, we are accustomed to 
work. We liave been working hard right along. We have traveled 
a long way to come here. We have been worknig morning, noon, and 
night to bring about this referendum for the people and to give them 
a right to express themselves as to whether they wish to have war or 
not. We feel very keenly on the subject, because it is our people 
that will be called upon to do the fighting; and we feel, as American 
citizens, that we should have something to say about the proposition 
before behig called on to do that fighthig. Our people have been 
very much vexed by the passage of laws which would draft them into 
the Army and Navy if war were declared. 

Now, gentlemen, 1 have been in Germany, and all over Europe. 
I slept in the municipal lodging house hi Berlin. After leaving 
Germany I went over to Great Britain — to London — and there I met 
a number of people. And, gentlemen, I want to say to you that from 
my experience in those countries I do vot know of any law in any one 
of those foreign countries that is as drastic as one or two of our own 
laws in this country. This is a sick country. You know, from history, 
how Babylonia a id Rome passed away. We ought to take a lesson 
from history. I believe that we will have the support of all the 
farmers. 

I was at the last big farmers' convention, where there vfere persons 
representing millions of people. I know how they feel about it. 

Now, before going to war, we ought to look around us and see what 
is going on in this country. Many people are being killed every 
week in industries. Many people are starving slowly to death on 
account of the high cost of supplies, simply because so much has 
been sent across the water. We ought to look after ourselves first 
and protect ourselves. M^e think that we ought to have some voice 
as to what should be done in America. We are American citizens, 
and we have a right to demand that. And I have come down here, 
in my humble way, to put this matter before you gentlemen, and in 
doing so, I want to say to you that I feel that it is a matter that is 
of very great importance, and that it is very imperative that action 
be taken upon it. 

I hope that 3-ou fully realize that the mass of the people in the 
W^est and Soutli are keen, not only for peace, but also for having some 
voice in what shall be done, in things that are going on. 1 think 
the people ought to have a voice in this. Surely you can trust them 
to do the right thing. Their judgment is splendid, and they can be 
trusted. 

Mr. Cline. Wouldn't 3^ou be in favor of war under any circum- 
stances ? 

Mr. How. Personally, I would not; no. That is my personal 
belief. Now, gentlemen^ I am a vegetarian, and I am very sensitive 



REFERENDUM ON DECLARATION OF WAR. 5 

on certain matters, particularly the matter of taking life. I shot a 
rabbit the last shooting I did. ^ Fortunately I did not kill the rabbit, 
because it vras a great lesson to me. Now, I would not ask anybody 
to take life. My yiew is along Tolstoi lines. That is my personal 
conviction. 

Mr. Cline. Are you in fayor of the refercntkim on all important -—^ 
questions ? 

Mr. How. I am in fayor of the referendum on all questions. It was 
our own organization in Missouri that brought about the initiatiye 
and the referendum. We have it out in Missouri. We have it there 
now on our statute books. 

Mr. Thompson. What kind of question would you submit? How 
would you submit it? What sort of question would you sujbmit ? 

Mr. How. As to whether the people wanted it, just as it states here 
in this resolution — as to whether, as provided in this resolution, war 
should be declared at all. The question is for the voters. 

Mr. Cline. The question should be submitted to a referendum of 
the voters ? iuvAX^ f^Wj'Xir*''*^ 

Mr. Thompson. Suppose something came up between the time of "^ 

submitting it and theTtme they votecf?"' There would be a new ques- 
tion involved. How would you handle that ? I mean a question 
involving two countries. 

Mr. How. I might say, in answer to that, that it appears to me 
that if it did take a little time, it would be better, on account of giving 
the people a chance to seriously reflect upon the whole situation. Is 
that what you mean ? 

Mr. Thompson. No. For instance, if the question was submitted 
on whether there iiliould be war declared or not, and before a vote p 
was had upon that question, the question should be further compli- ''^^Ak> 
cated by the sinking of a neutral vessel, j ^'"'^^^^ 

Mr. How. All I have read- about the \M xmieJ \sm^ me to believe 
that it would have been much better if we had taken a little more 
time. Two of us enlisted to go into that war. We are a fighting 
family. My father was a colonel in the Army. My grandfather was 
James B. Eads, who built vessels in the Civil War. But, when it 
comes to blowing up a vessel, etc., it is well to take a certain amount 
of time for reflection. If time had been taken before we went into 
the Spanish-American War, I think it would have been far better. 

The Chairman. Suppose we had a referendum, and the country 
voted against war, and the St. Louis, with Americans aboard, should 
be sunk by a German submarine, without warning, drowning all the 
people on board, and in violation of the rules of international law, 
without reference to the assurances given in the Sussex case. What 
do you think the Government ought to do in such a case as that ? 

Mr. How. I was going to state. I believe that they should have 
another referendum. 1 believe in letting the people decide. It may 
take a httle bit longer, but it seems to me, as I was saying in the 
case of the Maine, I am inclined to believe that it would have been 
better to have taken a little time. I am inclined to believe that in 
that case some of our own people were paid to blow it up from the 
inside. I don't know who it was did the hiring, but it may have 
been some people like our sugar people. I am inclined to believe it 
is better to take time and to have a referendum. I know the people, 
and know their psychology. I understand mob psychology. They 



6 EEFEEENDUM ON DECLARATION OP WAE. 

are inclined to go off half cocked. They get hysterical, men as well 
as women. A person who has had to study nervous diseases, as I 
have, must necessarily come to the conclusion that it is a good thing 
to take a httle time for reflection before jumping into anything. 
I think anyone who has studied nervous diseases and psychology 
will agree with me that it is better to take a little time to determine 
whether you ought to have war or not. 
I thank you. 

STATEMENT OF MR. M. C. WALSH. 

Mr. Walsh. I was one of the speakers employed by the Democratic 
national committee at Chicago, through Senator Walsh, of Montana, 
and Senator HoUis, of New Hampshire. I went through Illinois, 
Indiana, and Michigan, speaking for the national committee; and I 
spoke on the subject of peace, and peace only. I have been speaking 
for 16 years, in the labor movement. 

Mr. Wilson appeals to me as a man and a humanitarian. I went 
through those States speaking for him on the subject of peace, as I 
have said. 

In the great Middle West, where I come from, we have a Senator 
named James Hamilton Lewis. It was stated that the West wanted 
war. Mr. Lewis himself went over to the Pacific slope and the States 
throughout the great West, and his topic was peace. We of this 
country know there are 65,000,000 Americans — I take the figures 
from the 1910 Government census — that have no property. In the 
city of Chicago, 28 families ovm 18 per cent of the real estate in 
Chicago. In the city of New York, with its population of five million 
and its wealth of five bilhon, 1,666,000 pay rent; and only 8 per cent 
of the people own homes. In 1867, when the population was very 
much less than it is at the present time — these facts are taken from 
the Government records — 70 per cent did not own their homes. And 
10 per cent owned their homes without mortgage. 

I come here with my colleagues, Mr. Kruse, of Chicago, and Mr. How, 
of St. Louis. We have been in every State of the L^nion. We know 
the earnings of the toilers of the Nation, in the factories and in the 
fields. In 1789 the total weaUh of the Nation was $3,280,000,000. 
That was in the 13 original States. In 1850 the total wealth of this 
country, in the 36 States of the Union, was $7,650,000,000. In 1910, 
as the census tells us, the total wealth of the 48 States of the Union, 
not tp^king in the Philippines, Guam, the Hawaiian Islands, Alaska, 
Porto Rico, and other insular possessions, was $187,000,000,000, in 
round numbers, an increase in wealth in 60 years of $179,000,000,000. 
To-day only 19 per cent of the people of America own their own 
homes. We are speaking for the great mass of the people who do 
not own their homes. You men represent various constituencies 
throughout this country. We have been over the country. I have 
had to work from the age of 8 years up. I have never been to school. 
I speak now for the class I represent. There are 5,000,000 migratory 
workers in the United States, men who go into the forests and bring 
out the timber with which your houses are built, and which goes into 
the furniture which goes into those houses; and I speak for those 
workers who go into the fields of the Dakotas and other States in the 
great West and harvest the grains which gojes into the bread which 



EEFERENDUM ON DECLARATION OF WAR. 7 

supplies your table. I represent the men of the fields: I represent 
the men of the forests; I represent the men, all over the continental 
United States, who do the bulk of tlie unskilled labor. Our men, the 
people whom I represent, have built the railroads over which you 
gentlemen have traveled in coming from your districts to this 
Capital. These are the men we represent, 

I know, as an economist, and as a student of world-wide affairs, 
and from my travels in this country and througliout Europe, that if 
we go to war the people I represent ai-e the ores who will go to the 
front and do the fighting. The skilled men, who work in the indus- 
tries of the Nation, will stay in those industries and turn out the 
numitions; and we will go to the front and do the fighting for the 
country. So, gentlemen, I say to you, that if we are going to war, 
these 65,000,000 people are the first to be consulted. 

The chairman asked a question as to whether, if one of our ships 
was torpedoed by a submarine — taking the steamer St. Louis for 
example — whether we should go to war over that. Gentlemeji, we 
know the Maine was sunk and that this Government has spent 
$600,000 to investigate that situation. The result was that it was 
found that it was blown up from the inside. Now, wlien that boat 
was blown up, hasty action was taken, without reflection and with- 
out submitthig the question to the people. 

Mr. Cooper. I thiiik you are slightly in error about Vv'hat was the 
cause of the blowmg up of the Maine. The findings of the board 
were that the Maine was sunk by an exterior explosion, and then, 
when it was brought up, within the last j^ear or two and towed out 
to sea and sunk, the facts as reported in this country officially v/ere 
that the findirgs of the board were correct and that it was due to an 
exterioi- explosion . 

Mr. AValsh. I know, as a newspaper man, having worked 18 years 
throughout the Nation on newspapers, what the newspapers of this 
country are; and I know that they are making every eft'ort possible 
to bring on some overt act which will result in war. I admire Mr. 
Wilson very much, and I admire the Congressmen here at the Capitol 
who have taken a stand with him upon this cjuestion. But, gentle- 
men, I do know that the newspapers of this country exert a tre- 
meii dous infl uence upon the minds^of the people of this countryr I 
know that wer^eople^ liere' Tii This^CK get-up li(efe"~and make 

amicable talks against the militaristic propaganda; and yet I know, 
from 18 years' experience, to my own knowledge, that the news- 
papers of this country moid the thought of the people. 

1 ask 3"ou, Congressmen, for a referendum of this question to the 
people; to those people who, if we go to war, will do the fighting. I 
appeal to the gentlemen here on C'apitol Hill for that consideration 
for these people, because they are the people who will do the fighting 
if the country goes to war. I ask you, gentlemen', to be humani- 
tarian toward the men and women and children of this country. 
That you are humanitarian is shown by the fact of the passage of 
the child-labor law on August 1, 1916. We know what the European 
war has been. It has made a tremendous impression upon our 
people. The European war has been a tremendous influence upon 
the people of this country. We know that the moneyed interests 
of Europe are responsible for the European catastrophe. 



8 KEFEREXDUM ON DECLARATION OF WAR. 

Now, gentlemen, I ask you, as representatives of your people back 
home— and there are at Teast <S0 per cent of the people who own no 
property; perhaps not SO, but I will say 60 per cent — to take into 
consideration those back home who, if we go to war, will do the 
fighting. I speak for the American people and as an American, 
because my father and mother were born in this country, and I was 
born in this country. 

i\ir. (lixe. Do you assume that the 60 per cent you have referred 
to are all opposed to war 'I 

Mr. Walsh. No, sir. I will cite facts again from the census report — 
it is my Bible — to show that there are in America at the present day 
335,000 boys and girls betwe:Mi IS ;uul '22 years of age who are going 
to college, and there are 3,SS6,00U boys and girls between the ages of 
IS and 20 who ought to be attending college. Only 1 per cent of the 
entire population of the country go through college; only 12 per cent 
of the worldno- pin. pie go through high school; and 60 per cent of the 
'workingincn's rhildren have to leave school and go to work before 
reaching the seventh grade. Therefore, the newspapers of the coun- 
tr;v mold the minds of the people and do their thinking tor them; 
which means that the newspapers do the thinking for the people in 
all your constituencies. The minds ot the people reading tiie news- 
papers become inflamed. Right here in the daily newspapers of the 
Capital, in the Post, in the Herald, and other papers of this city, the 
front pages bearing big headlines, and carrying articles, are all de- 
signed to incite tiie people, the American people, against the Ger- 
man nation. I am not pro-German or pro ally. I am merely stating 
the facts. 

As I said before, it is sliown by the census reports that 60 per cent 
of your constituencies owns no property. 

Mr. Cline. I can understand that, but what I am trying to get 
at is this; What do you assume to be the attitude of the 60 or 70 per 
cent that own no property, whether they are unpatriotic or whether 
they would consent to a violation of American rights, in case that 
c{uestion arose ? And you, being their representative, as you say, 
should be able to answer that. 

Mr. Walsh. I am representing my own class. 

Mr. Cline. You are representing these people? 

Mr. Walsh. I represent that class that has nothing. 

Mr. Cline. What is your attitude on this cj[uestion ? 

Mr. Walsh. I explained to you, Mr. Congressman, that these 
people are those who have nothing except what they have accjuired 
by hard application. These people, now, are greatly influenced by 
the newspapers; their minds are molded by the newspapers; the 
newspapers do their thinking for them, and that is a well-known fact. 
I know that in Bethlehem, the home of the Schwab interests, the 
representatives of 86 newspapers met over two months ago; and, in 
meeting there, they met at a place where the Schwabs and the Car- 
negies Axould n;iturally exercise an influence over them, which would 
be reflected in the papers which they represented; and this may refer 
back to your constituencies, where the minds of the people you 
represent are molded by those same newspapers. 

They elected you to Congress; they influence you. 

Mr. Cline. What I want to know is this: Can there arise an inter- 
national situation, where the rights of the American people are 



EEFEREXDUM OK DECLARATION OF WAR. 9 

violated, that would justify the Gorernment in going to war? What 
is your attitude on that proposition ^ That is what I want to know. 

Mr. Walsh. I believe in war in the event of invasion. I am 46 
years old, past the mihtary age. Yet, gentlemen, I would take a 
gun and go out and fight for the country; and these 65,000,000 
Americans would be behind me. I would fight against an invasion 
of our country, because we have glorious traditions. My country 
means a whole lot to n^e. 

Mr. How. Suppose you let Mr. Kruse answer that. 

Mr. Miller. I like the answer the gentleman is giving. 

Mr. How. All right. 

Mr. Miller. Why would you take a gun to repel invasion 'i You 
mean physical invasion of the territory of the United States ? 

Mr. Walsh. Invasion from an exterior enemy. 

Mr. Miller. Why would you do that ? 

Mr. Walsh. Because there are American traditions here. We 
have freedom here; \ye have free speech, to a certain extent; we 
have a free press, so called. We have various other things that no 
other country in the w^orld has. 

Mr. Miller. So you would repel invasion of the United States ? 

Mr. W^ALSH. Yes. 

Ml-. Miller. In that do you confine yourself to continental United 
States « ^ 

Mr. W^ALsii. An invasion from an exterior enemy. 

Mr. Miller. You speak about freedom. Is that freedom you 
speak about essential to the American only on the mainland ^ Is it 
not also as essential to him when he gets out on the high seas ? 

Mr. Walsh. If an overt act is committed on the high seas, the 
people, the Americans, who are affected are those who go across on 
transcontinental steamers in the interest of selling munitions of war 
to the belligerent countries of Europe; those who go back and forth 
over the hioh seas, especially over the Atlantic, are going over in the 
interests of munition makers and other business interests of this 
country in connection with some of the houses of Europe. The 
people I represent, 65,000,000 American people, do not have time to 
travel; and if they did have the time they would be unable to travel, 
because they do not have the price, unless they were to go steerage. 
If we go to war over an overt act on the part of Germany, involving 
some of our munition makers, who are going over to Europe to make 
more money for "war brides," then I will not take up a gun for them. 

Mr. Miller. What is the philosophy back of this, that a man wdll 
repel an invasion, a physical invasion of the territory of the United 
States — that is, continental United States — and would be averse to 
resisting an invasion against American liberty and American rights 
if they are found on the high seas, or in Hawaii, or in Alaska, or else- 
where ? Do you get my point of view ? 

Mr. W\\lsh. Yes, sir. 

Mr. Miller. You live in the State of New York, do you ? 

Mr. Walsh. I liv? in Illinois. 

Mr. Miller. Suppose New York City is invaded. And suppose, 
at the same time, Minnesota is not invaded. I live in Minnesota. 
On your theory, why should I not sit back and say, "I will shoot 
when they get up here to Minnesota?'^ 



10 EEFERENDUM ON DECLARATION OF WAE. 

Mr. Walsh. You asked me about the people traveling back and 
forth over the high seas. 

Mr. Miller. I did not intend to ask you that, merely. 

Mr. Walsh. That was the subject matter of your cjuestion. 

Mr. Miller. That might be a part of it. The broad question was 
whether American rights exist outside of the continental United 
States to such an extent that thev deserv^e protection. 

Mr. Walsh. The 65,000,000 people, the 65,000,000 Americans 
whom I represent, and who do not have any property, do not travel. 
When they do travel, when they are obliged to travel, they travel in 
a box car. 

I thank you. 

STATEMENT OF MR. CHARLES KRTJSE, PRESIDEl^T OF THE 
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD WELFARE ASSOCIATION. 

Mr. Kruse. I represent the International Brotherhood Welfare 
Association, better known sometimes as the "hobo union." In the 
W^est we sometimes call them the "horny-handed workingmen." 

This, Mr. ChairmaTi and gentlemen, is a very interesting time, and 
this is the most intcrc'sting and most important meeting at which 
it has ever been my jjrivilege to be present. 

I feeJ as keenly in favor of this proposition to submit the question 
to a referendum vote of the people as do the other gentlemen of this 
committee; and we are here to present this matter the best we can. 
It may be crude of us, but our hearts are back of this whole problem 
of the referendum. It has been said by one of the other men that 
are on this ccmimittee that 65,000,000 people are not in favor of war. 
You know, gentlemen, that there is a common suspicion abroad in 
the United States that, although a number of men can create war 
right now — we are living, as I understand it, in a period when we are 
actually waiting for an overt act; and I have heard since I have been 
here, the last 10 days, in this Capital, that if, as time goes along, it 
does not happen from the other side, those who are keenly interested 
in war will see to it that we have an overt act committed — there is, 
as I said, a suspicion abroad in the United States that the American 
people have not got a say in the matter. Gentlemen, you do not 
understand that suspicion — and I say this without any reflection upon 
members of this committee or upon the Representatives from the 
various parts of this country — but there is an underlying suspicion 
abroad in America that the American people have not got a say. 

Gentlemen, I am opposed to war of an}^ kind. That is the reason 
I am trying to get you gentlemen to consider this referendum. I do 
not believe in murder. Our newspapers are telling us of the horrible 
conditions that are bemg brought about day and night over on the 
eastern continent, homes destroyed, lives snuffed out, etc., but very 
little is said of the thousands of men and women who sacrifice their 
lives in the industrial fields of this country, resulting in a huge loss of 
life in order to keep the machinery of the industrial world in action. 

Mr. Rogers. You do not believe in war under any circumstances ? 

Mr. Kruse. No; not under any circumstances. 

Mr. Rogers. Then why take a referendum upon it ? Would you be 
satisfied to abide by the result ? 

Mr. Kruse. If it was favorable to me, I would. 



BEFERENDUM ON DECLARATION OF WAR. 11 

Mr. Rogers. Exactly. 

Mr. Kruse. I understand the power ol publicity quite thoroughly, 
through the newspapers, etc. The newspapers of the country control 
the public thought. The trouble is that the American people are 
being fooled and misled. They are being lied to. There is no con- 
fidence in them. 

Mr. Temple. If that is the case, what confidence would be placed 
in a referendum vote ? If they are being fooled, wouldn't their vote 
show that ? 

Ml'. Kruse. But I say there is a tendency to suspicion al)road in 
America. 

Mr. Temple. How are you going to remedy it? 

Mr. Kruse. By passing and enacting that law; by putting it upon 
the statute books of this country. That was talked about yesterday 
in the Senate, that the newspapers and the men who desired to better 
their own condition through war, and the men who can create war, 
who do not tell the truth, the true situation, to the people, — when 
found guilty, they should be sent to jail. 

Mr. Temple. Would a referendum do that? 

Mr. Kruse. A referendum* would be extending to the people a 
right to a say. 

Mr. Temple. You say they are misled, they are fooled, they are 
deceived. In what position would these people be to vote dispassion- 
ately in that state of mind ? 

Mr. Kruse. It seems to me that the people, as a whole, naturally 
are opposed to war. 1 think that even though you did not do any- 
thing to abolish that suspicion, they would naturally vote against 
arms. 

Just recently, both of j^our morning newspapers issued their 
editions in great big headlines, announcing the fact that the California 
had been sunk and one American life lost. The people here in the 
District were all carried away with it. The impression was made 
upon the minds of the people that the California was owned by 
American interests. Now, 48 hours later they told us who owned the 
ship, and that the gentleman named George Washington did not 
drown, but was picked up and saved. 

Now, gentlemen, the working people are not stupid. They under- 
stand these things. They read between the lines. I feel that, in 
spite of the fact, everybody up here wants to and does stand by, 
hoping for an over act, hoping that something will happen to bring 
on war with Germany. 

Mr. Miller. Where do you get that idea ? 

Mr. Kruse. From our newspapers. 

Mr. Miller. You say ''up here." Do you know of any Congress- 
man or any Senator that wants war ? 

Mr. Kruse. Not that I know of. You all preach peace. 

Mr. Miller. Why did you make that statement you just did? 

Mr. Temple. That we are really hoping for some overt act. 

Mr. Kruse. I did not say that. I said that the people are sending 
that abroad through the newspapers. 

Mr. Miller. You did not intend to refer to Congressmen ? 

Mr. Kruse. No: not by any means. I have not met any Congress- 
man who was not in favor of peace. 



12 REFERENDUM ON DECLARATION OF WAR. 

Mr. Cline. As a representative of the migratory class, as you say, 
do you say that there could be any condition inflicted upon us 
in which you would become environed by an international rela- 
tionship that v/ould justify war on your part? 

Mr. Kruse. Pardon me, Mr. Congressman; I am not very well 
educated. Please do not use such big words. 

Mr. Cline. I will put it this way: Suppose this country should be 
invaded. Would this country be justified in taking up arms? 

Mr. Kruse. No, sir. 

Mr. Cline. And defending its rights ? 

Mr. Kruse. No, sir. 

Mr. Cline. What would you do under those circumstances ? 

Mr. Kruse. Murder is murder, whether it is committed in New 
York or anywhere else. 

Mr. Cline. Suppose the city of New York or the city of Boston 
should be visited by a sufficient force to destroy the city. What 
would you do under those circumstances ? 

Mr. Kruse. I would not defend it. I do not believe in an army 
or a navy; and I will give you my reason. I know it sounds very 
unreasonable. To me it seems that if we have an invasion from the 
Atlantic or the Pacific, it matters not to me. I would stand on the 
Pacific coast and wave them a welcome to our shores. They are of 
our class. It does not matter whether we are compelled to struggle 
for an existence under the Czar of Russia or under the King of 
England or under German rule. It is the universal condition of the 
working class to be harnessed to the industrial machinery; and it is 
the same all over. It is a struggle. 

Are there any other questions ? 

Ml'. Huddleston. Do the 65,000,000 people whom you say you 
represent favor war ? 

Mr. Kruse. From what I have seen of them, usually they are 
against it. They do not believe in war. They do not want war, 
and they feel that this whole military program and this making of 
appropriations for military purposes— and this is the judgment of the 
people I have met, and I have met thousands within the last four 
months — is merely a played-up game for the munition people and 
the armor-plate people in order to foster their business at the expense 
of the people. 

Mr. Goodwin. You essay to speak for those 65,000,000 people. 
Your organization is the hobo organization. What do vou mean by 
that? 

Mr. Kruse. That, of course, would take us away from the point. 
The hobo organization was organized for the express purpose of 
educating the people of the Ur-ited States, the migratory workers, 
the workers who necessarily do the emergency work of our country. 

Mr. Goodwin. How many people are engaged in that? 

Mr. Kruse. We have always what is known as the migratory 
workers, about 11,000,000 of them; and now, at this time, there are 
3,000,000 of them on the open market, waiting for a position, 3,000,000 
that are now unemployed. 

Mr. Goodwin. Do they have established homes? 

Mr. Kruse. Most of them have what we know as lodging-house 
homes. 

Mr. Goodwin. Do they go from place to place ? 



KEFERENDUM ON DECLAEATION OF WAR. 13 

Mr. Kruse. They are migratory by nature. 

Mr. Goodwin. Do they have any particular business ? When thoy 
are sojourt'irg at a place, what is their occupation ? 

Mr. Kruse. Some of them go on the raih-oads; some go down 
South — ]^ow there are a good many in the South. You have thousands 
of migratory workers that have come from the wheat fields of the 
Noi'tliwest, and they are now down South working on the plantations 
on the Mi^sssippi Kiver, from Cairo down to the Gulf of Mexico. 

Mr. Goodwin. And you are speaking for 65,000,000 people ? 

Mr. Kruse. I did not say all of the 65,000,000. 

Mr. Goodwin. You say there are 65,000,000 people who are 
opposed to war under any circumstances ? 

Mr. Kruse. I did not say that. 

Mr. Goodwin. How many people are opposed to war regardless 
of an overt act ? 

Mr. Kruse. All of them that I have come in contact with. 

Mr. Goodwin. You would oppose resisting an armed invasion ? 
You would just surrender completely, abjectly? 

Mr. Kruse. Yes, sir. 

Mr. Porter. Would you not consider that treason to the country ? 

Mr. Kruse. I can not say it would be. I am not bitter, gentle- 
men. I love America. I have given the best of my life, and I have 
given my intelligence and my physical force, in order to aid when- 
ever needed. Unstintingly I have done my part, and the best I 
have received in retmii is the uncertainties of to-morrow. And yet 
I love America. I have been in other countries, and know them. 
This is the best. 

Mr. Temple. But it is not worth fighting for ? 

Mr. Kruse. There is no country worth fighting for. I thank you. 

ADDITIONAL STATEMENT OF JAMES EADS HOW. 

Yly. How. I want to say something that has not been covered here. 
It is not only that the unskilled workers are interested in this, but 
there are many of the skilled workers that are interested in it also. 
You gentlemen will understand that if you know anything about the 
labor movement. I have been with Mr. Gompers. I was with Mr. 
Gompers in Paris, and I was in London at the time Mr. Gompers 
was there. He is at the head of the great labor movement, and he 
knows, and what I am going to state to you, that these men, very 
many of them, have an international spirit. I slept in the municipal 
lodging house i]i Berlin, which accommodated 5,000 people. When 
I left there I went to London, and at the time 1 arrived there, in 19io, 
it was at the time when Mr. Lloyd George started his unemployment 
insurance p'rogram. I know from experience in those countries 
that tliey do protect their people over there. The}^ have a great 
deal of what we call an international spirit. 

Mr. GooDVv'iN. But do they have a national spirit ? 

Mr. How. Gertainly. We ^ ork side by side here Vvith the Germans 
and the Irish, and we knov7 that the poor men in the trencher, if they 
had had a voice before war was declared, would never be in the 
trenches to-day. I think, gentlemen, that you ought to give the 
people a chance to express their views. 



14 REFERENDUM ON DECLARATION OF WAR. 

Mr. Goodwin. Do you indorse the sentiment expressed by Mr. 
Kruse just now? 

Mr. How. I am trying to tell you. Many of my friends, who 
belong to a radical organization, have stated that if war is declared 
they will declare war upon the people who declared war over here. 

Mr. Cline. What is that organization? 

Mr. How. They are the Industrial Workers of the World. I do 
not belong to that organization, but many of the members of it are 
my friends. They say that the big munition makers want to make 
money, and that they are using our class, the working class — that 
they are psychologizing the worldng class — for their purfoees. 

Mr. Goodwin. Then, when war was declared, either by Congress, 
or by vote through a referendum, they would make war upon the 
peo^^le who declared war ? 

Mr ..How. They would make war upon you gentlemen. I come from 
the millionaire class myself. During the Civil War, my grandfather, 
Jame-; B. Eads — my name is James Eads How — was interested in 
the building of vessels. 

I thmk, gentlemen, that you yn]l find in the American heart the 
divine spark. We want to call that out. We are trying to protect 
that spirit. 

A good step was taken in the passage of the Federal employment law 
and in the establishment of Federal employment bureaus. They do 
not work very well yet, as the country has not given them much money 
to work with. 

You gentlemen do not understand the psychology of 80 people out 
of every lOO of the working people — the psychology which I have 
been voicing. I have been a student of psychology. ' I have studied 
with Joseph Leiter, who is president of the Army League. I have 
met Mr. Morgan — the old Mr. Morgan — in his lifetime, and I have 
studied with the younger Morgan. 

Mr. Rogers. Are you a Harvard man? 

Mr. How. No, sir. I feel keenly upon this subject, gentlemen. 
Five Congressmen have introduced this Scime referendum proposition, 
that the people ought to have a chance to voice their sentiment. 

Mr. Miller. Do you realize that under our Constitution the sole 
power of declaring war is vested in Congress and that when we do 
declare war every American citizen has a voice in that declaration 
through his Representative in Congress ? Do you realize that our 
system is very much different from that in Europe ? Suppose you 
lived in my district, you would have a vote and would have voted 
your convictions through me. 

Mi-. How. I have had a chance not only to study in this countr}- 
but also to study abroad, apd I had to study a little jurisprudence. 
I think there is more liberty in France and Great Britain than we 
have here. 

Mr. Porter. Wliy don't you live there? 

Mr. How. I lived there quite a little while. My grandfather and 
father were born and raised in this country. The world is my 
country and all men are brothers. 

I did not mean to bring in personalties into this, but not one of 
you gentlemen really feels the seriousness with which we come here 
representing the labor people. I have talked with the central unions 
and the American Federation of Labor people clear across the country. 



REFERENDUM ON DECLARATION OF WAR. 15 

over here to New York, and I know the farmers and the working 
people are for this. 

Mr. Goodwin. You said a while ago that the Industrial Workers 
of the World are so wrought up about this that they would make war 
upon those who declared war, whether that declaration was through 
the duly constituted authority of Congress or by a referendum vote 
of the people. Is that what vou say? 

Mr. How. If they were called upon to go to the front — (h'atted. 
Also, it is probable, I think, as I have heard, that the I. W. W., in 
case ot war, will declare a general strike in ceitain lines, to prevent, 
for example, the mining of coal. The Welsh miners did that same 
thing. I wanted to give an all-round view of the labor question. 

Are there any further ((uestions '>. 

The Chairman. I think that is all. 

Mr. Marchaxd. I think, Mr. Chairman, that there are more funda- 
. mental reasons and more logical reasons for this than have been ad- 
vancecL I would like to set them forth, briefly. 

The Chairman. We have no more time to devote to this f[uestion. 

Mr. Marchand. I am sorry. I came all the way from Cleveland, 
representing the Initiative and Reterenchim League. I wish you 
could give me five minutes. 

The Chairman. These gentlemen came here and asked for 15 min- 
utes and we have given them thiree -quarters of an hour. We have no 
more time to snare. 

Mr. Marchand. I am very sorry that you can not give me five 
minutes. 
\ Mr. Goodwin. I think we ought to let him have five minutes. 
I The Chairman. You came here without any notice and without 
any invitation. These other gentlemen asked for a hearing. 

Mr. Goodwin. Why can't we give him five minutest 

The Chairman. Without objection, we will hear you for five 
minutes. 

STATEMENT OF ME. GUY MAECHAND, ATTOENEY AT LAW, 
CLEVELAND, OHIO, EEPEESENTING THE INITIATIVE AND 
EEFEEENDTJM LEAGUE. 

Mr. Marchand. If you are building for the future, then you will 
recognize the rule, it seems to me, of what is known as popular gov- 
ernment ; but if you are wedded to the old idea, as enunciated in our 
Constitution, th^it Congress shall have absolute power in this matter, 
then you v ill not be iivterested in the new idea, or what is ])ractically 
new, of referring the question of Avar or peace to the people. When 
you were elected to Congress, the question of war was not before the 
people, to my recollection, but the people trusted you to manage 
their business affairs: they hired you to come to Washington and 
run the Government, just as you would be hired as president or 
general manager to run a business. You were elected to deal with 
material things. War deals with human life. They did not specifi- 
cally engage you to declare v ar, although they did actually — but not 
intending it— because it is in tlie Constitution that you have the 
po\\er to declare war. They did not understand that they were 
giving their lives into your hands. They hired you just as they 
would hire a president or a general manager to ruii a l)usiness, both 



16 REFERENDUM ON DECLARATION OF WAR. 

dealing with material things ; and they trusted you in that capacity, 
but they did not realize that the Constitution gave you so much 
power, the power to take their lives into your own hands and to 
decide, without getting a full vote from them, what their desires 
were. 

My friends, I am in favor of war, but not until the American people 
have spoken upon the subject. I know you gentlemen are against 
war, and, therefore, if you represent your constituents and your 
people, why, naturally, they must be against war. It goes without 
saying that the country is now without war, because Congressmen 
and Senators are against war. Our newspapers say that the adminis- 
tration has waited for some overt act. 

Thus far Congress has saw fit to disregard its inalienable right, 
granted by the Constitution, to declare war, and allowed the Secretary 
of State to determine whether or not we are about to have war. 
He has defined what is the rule of traveling; whether a ship is armed 
or unarmed — not Congress, although the Constitution says that 
Congress shall have control over that. All that is in the hands of 
Congress; yet the Secretary of State has taken upon himself to define 
what is an armed and an unarmed ship, and what is search and what 
is not search, and all those tilings. If Congress is allowing one man 
to bring us to the brink of war, that is not in accordance with the 
Constitution of the United States. The Constitution does not sa} 
that one man shall put us on the brink of war, and then allow him 
to throw the responsibility upon your shoulders. 

Now, gentlemen, the referendum principle is fundamental. It 
started out on the Pacific coast about 2() j^ears ago; it takes about 
20 years to get across the continent to the East. The princifle is 
sound; it is nothing more or less than the rule of the people. What 
have 3^ou to fear ? If your proposition of war is sound, you should 
not be afraid to submit it to your constituents and let them vote 
upon it. Are you afraid of the American people?. Are j^ou afraid 
to submit the proposition, which your judgment and experience and 
conscience approve as sound, to the people and let them vote upon 
it? Are you afraid to submit that to the people? it seems to me 
it is fundamental. 

How many minds in Congress run along fundamental lines ? How 
many Congressmen work night and day along fundamental lines? 
Gentlemen, they all do. It is a simple proposition. The people 
have trusted you to manage their business. Now, the people would 
love to have a chance to say whether or not they should trust you 
with their lives. The people only want an expression upon this 
thing. They do not want to take away your right to declare war. 
They merely ask a referendum in order to give notice of their wishes, 
to express their views. 

The American people are not against war. They are for war — a 
just war. They want to know what a just war is. If your propo- 
sition of war is fundamentally sound, do not be afraid to take it up 
with the people. You have trusted them before in great crises. 
The last one was the Spanish- American war. When President Mc- 
Kinley signed that declaration of war, he did so with tears in his 
eyes. He was laboring under emotion. And a man laboring under 
such emotion can not do things with a clear mind. You gentlemen 
know all about that war. I do not need to tell you anything about 



REFERENDUM ON DECLAKATION OF WAE. 17 

It. After the situation was brought about, Congress declared war. 
It was McKinley who decided that we should go to war. It is too 
much power in the hands of one man. It is too much power that 
the Secretary of State now has; it is too much power in the hands 
of the Secretary of State to bring us to the brink of war. I demand 
that Congress, under the Constitution, shall decide what overt acts 
are and what an armed ship and an unarmed ship are, and what are 
all those things that are under discussion in the war zone. 

I thank you. 

Mr. Keeley. Mr. Chairman, I should like to say a few words. 

The Chairman. We have no more time to devote to this subject 
to-day. If you will make a request for a hearing, we will take it 
up in executive session. 

^Ir. Cooper. Mr. Chairman, I suggest that we give this man five 
minutes, and state at the same time that when he is through talking 
we Avill absolutely shut off any further speakers. 

Mr. Goodwin. I think we ought to give him five minutes. 

The Chairman. Without objection, you will ])e heard for hve 
minutes, Mr. Keeley. 

STATEMENT OF ME. JAMES KEELEY, MEMBER OF THE SINGLE 
TAX CLUB. 

Mr. Keeley. I am a member of the Single Tax Club. That club 
had adopted resolutions along this line, and being an officer of that 
(^'ganization I would like to say that we thought we would like to 
have a hearir'g at some later time, and I would like such a hearing; 
but I am grateful for the few minutes this morning. 

I think my position is about midway between the first speaker 
and the last one you heard. I am not opposed to war upon all 
conditions the way the world now is. 

As to the referendum — I will omit some things I thought of say- 
ing — I think we have already had a referendum upon the general 
issue of peace or war. I think there can be no dispute about its 
being a very definite referendum. You can take the political speeches 
of either party in the last campaign — I was in the thick of the fight — 
and you will fir.d that peace or war was a subject of those speeches. 
Our Republican friends not only accused us of bemg peace advo- 
cates, but they went farther in their statements than the facts w^ar- 
ranted. Ujion the issue presented, President Wilson w^as reelected, 
and his reelection was upon that declaration, which constituted a 
referendum of the general question of peace or war. The general 
question having been before the people, I do not think we need any 
further referendum as to the sentiment of the people. We do not 
want war. The issue is now up more specifically; and that issue is 
tliis, whether we will go to war with Germany or not; that is, with 
tlie central powers. That is the issue. 

Now, I think there is no more reason why we should go to war with, 
the central powers than that we should go to war with the entente — 
with Great Britain and her allies. Great Britain lias violated every 
rule of intermitional law. She has absolutely ignored all rights. She 
has always done that. It is a matter of history. In her position in 
this war, she has done practically everything that Germany has, w^ith 
82232—17 2 



18 REFERENDUM OX DECLARATION OF WAR. 

the one possible exception that she has not taken any human hves. 
So, gentlemen, I say that when it comes to a question of violations 
of international law, I do not see why we should go to war with 
Germany, what we would fight about. 

Now, as the last speaker has said, a lot of power is usurped by the 
Secretary of State. One man is deciding for 500 men on Capitol 
Hill. The people hold you Congressmen responsible, and I think 
the people feel that too much power is being placed in the hands of 
the Secretary of State. 

The idea of th.e first speaker is that it would be a democratic thing, 
and in keeping with the ideals of democracy, to have the question 
submitted to the people. He thinks that the question should be 
held up until a referendum is taken upon the particular point of 
whether or not we should go to war with Germany. Now, gentle- 
men, the general question was settled by the reelection of President 
Wilson, and it was settled in this way, that we should stay out of war. 

As to Germany, I may say that I know a good deal more about the 
German Empire than I can say in five minutes. Germany is a demo- 
cracy, they are not really an empire. Great Britain is" an empire. 
She is ruled by the aristocratic class. Great Britain has no friendship 
for the United States. All she wants with the United States is to use 
her. GeiTTiany is not as much an enemy of the United States as 
Great Britain is. It is the aristocracy hi Great Britahi that has 
forced the country into war, when she did not really want to go. 

The Chairman. Your time is up. 

(Whereupon the committee proceeded to to the consideration of 
other business.) 



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